Eli Young Band

I've recently been listening to a lot of the Eli Young band. This is a Texan country/rock band, and their most recent album is Jet Black and Jealous. So, this band got me to thinking about Texas....not good, I know.

Texas makes me think of two things in particular. First, my friend, Raz, who is from Texas and actually introduced the band to me, which I would love to thank him for. Hmm....quick side note:

Is it just me, or does anybody else notice how Texans swagger? I don't know if it's just Raz and his brother, but when you watch them, they swagger....it's so wierd and so absolutely hilarious to watch! I don't know...it must be a Texas thing....

But back to the task at hand, Texas. The other thing Texas makes me think of is beef brisket, which of course, they are known for. It's all they ever BBQ. So, I guess the combination of listening to Texas country music made me want to fix a beef brisket. So, I did.

But first, I had to find one. :) Julie and I went out last night to get just a 4 or 5 pound brisket. We tried Kroger first....and they did NOT have one. How can you be a grocery store and not have brisket?! They had corned beef brisket, but St. Patrick's day is over a month away! And that's a totally different post.... I just wanted a plain, old brisket.

So, we tried Walmart, and success!! We found one. We start to walk to check out, me now carrying this 9 or 10 pound brisket like I would my own child, and Julie goes, "So......can we name it?"

"No! We can't name the brisket! Because we're going to roast it and eat it!"

"How about Ned?"

"I thought you were going to name your first son Ned?"

"Oh.....well......how about Fred?"

Needless to say, we never decided on a name, which is probably a very good thing. :) But anyway, we now had our brisker, and now came the time to cook it. The best way to cook a brisket is at a low temperature for a very LONG time. Brisket comes from what you could consider the shoulder/arm of cow and so it's a relatively tough piece of meat. However, it does have a good amount of fat on it, which can work to your advantage. So, here is my recipe for a beef brisket.

Texan Beef Brisket

9 lb. brisket

1 cup dry rub

4 onions

You need to trim the fat on the brisket to about 1/4 inch on the top. This can be tedious, so make sure you have a good sharp knife, and a paring knife is good to have around as well. Season the brisket well with the dry rub. I use my own personal recipe, you can make up something yourself, buy one, doesn't really matter. The important part is that you do this the night before you're planning on roasting because it needs to sit over night. Make sure to cover with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge overnight.

When you're ready, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. As the oven is preheating, you're going to make a foil package to wrap your brisket in. I used a double layer of foil, or you could use heavy duty foil, either way you're going to have, at least, one sheet of foil on the bottom and one on the top of the brisket. Cut up your onions into fairly large chunks and lay around the brisket. Seal up the foil so that there are no openings.

You're going to roast this at 300 degrees for about 4 hours or until the brisket is fork tender, which also translates to 175 degrees internal temperature. The brisket will form its own juices in the package which you can then spoon over your beef.

Here is my finished product! I served mine with creamy grits and caramelized onions. I would have also served probably collards, but I didn't really have time today.

So, here's the moral of the story. One, you can roast your own brisket; it's a lot easier than you might think. Two, listen to Eli Young Band, they're great. Three, the next time you see a Texan, watch them swagger and giggle quietly to yourself. :)